Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Hotline for Migrant Workers released a report on Wednesday stating that Israel is threatening detained Eritrean and Sudanese nationals, including asylum-seekers, with prolonged detention to pressure them to leave Israel.

Eritrean refugees and Israeli activists protesting on August 31, 2012, against the imprisonment without trial of asylum seekers and refugees in Saharonim prison, Negev Desert (Photo: Activestills)

The report said that since December 11, 2012, Israel‘s pressure has convinced several hundred detained Sudanese and one Eritrean to leave Israel, and in February 2013, some 50 detained Eritreans agreed under similar pressure to leave for Uganda. According to the report, all 50 of the detained Eritreans remain in detention. HRW and the Hotline for Migrant Workers said that Sudanese and Eritreans face a real risk of harm if they return to their home countries.

The report said that under Sudanese law, anyone who has visited Israel faces up to 10 years in prison in Sudan and Sudanese officials have said the courts will apply the law. Next, the report stated that because of “credible persecution fears relating to punishment for evading indefinite military service in Eritrea, 80 percent of Eritrean asylum seekers worldwide are granted some form of protection.” “Israel‘s prolonged detention of asylum-seekers apparently aims to shatter all hope so they feel they have no real choice but to leave the country,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The scope of the constitutional rights of the migrants and Israel’s policy of detaining up to 2,000 migrants at Saharonim detention center in the South is currently before the High Court of Justice. On Tuesday, the High Court issued a conditional order against Israel’s policy of detaining certain migrants at Saharonim, demanding that the state explain how the policy does not violate international law obligations and migrants’ constitutional rights.

Related:
                    http://www.phr.org.il/default.asp?PageID=100&ItemID=1704 

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